Monday, February 02, 2009

Full Metal Pencil Day 1

Sorry for the gap in updates.Above is a progress shot from what must be one of my coolest gigs thus far. A European publisher asked me to contribute a piece to a Stanley Kubrick anthology (along with this guy, how cool is that?) they are putting together. I have free reign to do whatever I choose, which has its pros and cons. A director like Kubrick, and his body of work, are subjects with multiple interpretations and approaches. I had some difficulty deciding how to do so. After doing a ton of research, sketching and watching 2001, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut numerous times, I came up with a solid idea.I found many quotes of his to be inspiring. Here's the one that provided fertile ground for the developing piece above:

“A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later.”

Describes his films well, I think.

The conductor metaphor I'm going with certainly comes from the quote, but it also references the way he directed. He would control every single aspect of his pictures to the most minute detail, and the way his films slowly build to their crescendos and climaxes posses musical qualities. This piece is gonna be pretty intense, but I am excited! I must have drawn his head a hundred times already, and those eyebrows of his require attention.

In other news: I have a new piece debuting in a group show! The opening is Feb. 6th at the Morpho gallery. Hope to see you there! Plenty of things on the horizon...